Kanouff Leads Expanded Service Provider Org at Cisco

Industry vet Yvette Kanouff is leading an expanded service provider organization at Cisco Systems as part of a broader reorganization announced internally by the company.

In her new role, Kanouff will head up a new organization that combines Cisco’s SP segment, SP cloud, mobility and Service Provider Video Software and Solutions (SPVSS), according to an email posted by Business Insiderfrom company CEO Chuck Robbins, who took the reigns of the company last July. Multichannel News has verified the contents of the email.

Kanouff, an exec late of SeaChange International and Time Warner Cable,  joined Cisco in June 2014 to head up its SPVSS unit, and was recently promoted to also head up Cisco’s recently combined cloud groups.

As part of the reorg, Kelly Ahuja will no longer head up Cisco’s service provider business.

Update:  Cisco confirmed that Ahuja is leaving Cisco. "We would like to thank Kelly for his leadership over the SP segment that led to significant acceleration for our SP strategy and portfolio. We wish Kelly the best in his future endeavors," the company said, in a statement. 

“I’d like to express my deep gratitude to Kelly Ahuja for his 18 years of leadership in Service Provider,” Robbins said in the email, whose contents were confirmed by Multichannel News. “Our customers have deep respect for Kelly’s expertise, and he has been critical to our success. I know you’ll join me in wishing him the best as he takes the next steps in his career journey.”

Robbins also announced that Cisco is reorganizing the engineering division to “better reflect our strategic priorities,” aligning it in four key areas: Networking and Market Segments; Cloud Services and Platforms; IoT; and Applications, and Security.

Under the new structure, David Goeckeler will continue to head up the company’s Security business, while Rowan Trollope will stay at the head of IoT & Applications. Zorawar Biri Singh, named SVP and CTO last year, is now heading up heading up Cisco’s newCloud Services & Platforms unit and will retain his role as CTO and lead efforts around the company’s next-gen data center strategy.